Regina's Blog

Today’s workforce is very different than the workforce of twenty years ago.There are five generations working side by side. Each generation has different
expectations, values and work styles. Traditionalists and baby boomers prefer face to face communication while millennials prefer email and texting.
In addition to a wide variety of ages, the workforce is also culturally diverse, globally aware and select employees are working remotely.

It was four o’clock on a Friday afternoon in 1994. My boss called me into his office and fired me. It doesn’t really matter why I was fired - corporate
Human Resource people like to talk about downsizing, restructuring and reallocating resources. All I knew was that I was fired, devastated, embarrassed
and scared. I couldn’t believe that I was actually fired. I was scared because years earlier my husband lost his job and was unemployed for more than
a year. Those were the most stressful months of my life; our credit was destroyed, our marriage was stressed, and the bill collectors never stopped
calling. Thank God we both had lots of love for each other, college degrees, a healthy baby and a supportive family! I worked as a Training Manager
at Macy’s at the time but my salary couldn’t cover our expenses. Eventually my husband decided to join the NYPD. His logic was that he could never
be fired and the benefits were good. When you have a baby, insurance coverage is a priority. It’s hard to believe that thirty years have passed since
my husband joined the NYPD. We both work to put food on the table, gas in the cars, pay our outrageous New York taxes, and provide for our family.
It took us years to reestablish our credit but eventually we did, we worked hard, saved our pennies and bought a house.

Sexual harassment is a hot topic but unfortunately not a new topic. Females have been harassed for years. Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference
between friendly behavior and subtle sexual harassment. Other times, it's crystal clear. The first time I experienced inappropriate behavior by
a man was when I was a college student and the coach of the men's swim team kissed my neck.We were practicing head hold releases in the shallow
end of the pool for a water safety instructor class. I jumped out of that pool so fast and ran to the women's locker room, my whole body was shaking.
I had a hard time understanding what had just happened. Unfortunately, I had no idea what sexual harassment was when I was 20-year-old college
student. No one had ever discussed the subject with me.

Years later, I taught Sexual Harassment Awareness training to more than 500 corporate employees. When the training ended with the executive team, the
CFO walked up to me and told me that every executive could be sued for creating a hostile work environment. He didn't need to tell me, I was very
aware that the Senior Executives, who were all male at that time, behaved badly. Some more than others. One of the executives consistently made
me uncomfortable. He made comments about my appearance and my clothing and used awful language. His comments were definitely unwelcomed. When I
shared with my boss how uncomfortable this man made me feel, her response was, “That’s just the way he is.” I started to keep a record of every
inappropriate, unwelcomed thing this executive did when he was with me. I never thought about suing him or the company but looking back, I could
have. My bosses’ response was NOT what a boss should say. A better response would have been, “I’ll take care of this, you should never be uncomfortable
at work.”

Every employee should know what is considered sexual harassment. Quid pro quo is easy to understand, this for that. If you have sex with me, I will
give you a promotion. Creating a hostile work environment is a bit harder to define. Is flirting with someone at work wrong? Is giving a co-worker
a compliment or a hug taboo? It depends. Is the behavior welcomed? When the behavior is not welcomed, it could be considered creating a hostile
or uncomfortable work environment. Sometimes, co-workers don’t even realize that their behavior is unwelcomed. In the photo above, the man is invading
the woman’s personal space. No one wants someone in their personal space unless they are invited.

If you or your employees are having a hard time determining what kind of behavior is inappropriate and/or unwanted, use the following questions as
a guide.

Would I want my behavior to be the subject of a column in the company newsletter?

Is there equal power between me and the person that I'm interacting with?

Would I behave the same way if the person I'm in a relationship with were standing next to me?

Would I want someone else to act this way towards a person I'm in a relationship with?

Is there equal initiation and participation between me and the person I'm interacting with?

If you are interested in scheduling Sexual Harassment Awareness training for your staff in 2018, give me a call today at 845-294-7089. Don't wait until
you make the news!

Managing others is a challenge. It always has been and it always will be. If you are lucky, you have worked for a fabulous manager. Someone who was fair,
competent, pleasant, and understood how to create a motivating work environment. There are four reasons that people end up in management positions.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to deliver a Train the Trainer program for Duke Energy. During the program I asked if anyone used a SPACER to kick
off their training. To my surprise, this group of technical trainers had never heard of a SPACER before. Here are the basics.

During the past 20+ years, I have facilitated thousands of Presentation Skills training programs. Every participant received coaching and
suggestions for keeping their audience engaged. If you or someone who you work with would like to schedule some Presentation Skills training
please call us today at 845-294-7089. We would love to work with you!

For those of you that know about Emotional Intelligence (EI), you know
that self awareness is critical to being an effective leader. We need to
understand our own style and behaviors before we can influence others. Emotional Intelligence is broken down into five parts: